As today was the day we were going to Fraser Island, we had to get up very early in order to watch some films about 4x4 driving and dingo awareness etc. By the time we were both up dressed and ready to check out, we were already a little late so had to skip breakfast and went straight to the TV room. The videos were pretty amusing at times especially when describing the dingo stance which is just crossing your arms across your chest and backing away from an agitated dingo, but we were shocked to hear that you cannot swim in the sea because of the sharks, waves and undercurrents and jelly fish. After the videos, the group of 16 of us were split into 2 smaller groups, we were group 1 and had 6 English people, Me, Saz, Zac, Natalie (who bizarrely we briefly met in the Phi Phi hotel), Fiona and Lizzy, Mark from Germany, Vivianna from Argentina and Jon from Korea. We were really happy with the group and everyone was chatting really quickly which was definitely a good sign as we are going to spend the next 2 days cooped up in a land rover together. After filling out all the legal mumbo jumbo, group 1 was ready to roll and with a good stroke of luck I was nominated to drive - Perk!! The first task was to reverse the Toyota Land Cruiser (which didn't have a working handbrake) up the drive (I got a fair old shock when I pushed in the clutch and the car started to roll towards group 2's van, I was thinking that this was some crazy Australia engineering until I realised that it had to be left in reverse to stop it rolling down the hill) and onto the main road in order to drive through Hervey Bay to the camping supplies store. Once here, Wayne, possibly the most Aussie guy in the world who was wearing the smallest, holiest shorts in the world, showed us how to set up the tents, pack the car and use the 4x4 system before letting us loose on our own. On our way to the ferry port, we first had to collect food and drink from the local shopping centre. After parking the tank (which seemed to be twice as big as the Corolla) the girls all went off in search of food, leaving the lads to grab as much goon (Aussie slang for wine in a box) as possible for $50. Fully loaded we set off in search of the ferry terminal, but as we had spent a little too much time shopping we were running a little late so had to put a proper boot on. In our hurry we missed a turning which luckily I just managed to spot as we sped past it, so I had to pull a quick turn in the road and we were on the right track again. We got to the ferry terminal just in time and all that was left was to reverse the beast onto it. This was actually lot easier than it looked and I just about managed to not embarrass myself. The ferry took 50 minutes to get to Fraser Island and I spent most of it impatiently looking forward to carrying on driving. At Fraser Island once off the ferry we had to reduce the tyre pressures and change from 2 WD to 4 WD as it was all off road from now on, it was all very exciting. Once we had done that we set off up the dirt track hill that took us into the middle of Fraser Island. The track had loads of undulations in and a couple of times i took them a little too quick resulting in a pretty sharp jerk and a lot of screaming from the back. Sarah says it was pretty scary, but in the front it was top fun. We drove on the tracks for a good 45 minutes before we arrived at our first and only stop for today, Lake Mackenzie. Lake Mackenzie is amazing, it is a huge clear fresh water lake with perfect white sand. We all had a swim and chill here for around 1 hr, after which we went back to the Toyota to get some lunch. After lunch, I felt a little guilty at hogging the driving so reluctantly offered everyone else a drive. Mark decided he fancied a blast so it was his job to drive us to the camp site. Sat in the back it was strange how much more scary it seemed than up front. It probably had something to do with the tons of equipment above our heads and only having lap belts with very little to hold on to. At one point, when we were getting onto the beach we had to go up a pretty steep bank and in the back it looked certain that we were going to roll over, but the Toyota bossed it and soon after we arrived at our campsite. The campsite was very basic and was just a plot of land behind a bank where you are allowed to camp. There was no running water there, so no showers or washing facilities, and the toilets were basically you digging a hole in the ground, properly getting back to nature. At camp, while the lads put up the tents and played footy, the girls all made a delicious barbecue with awesome burgers, sausages as well as salad and stuff, It was a hell of a lot better than the pot noodles me and Zac were anticipating. That night after dinner, the group all set chatting drinking wine and getting to know each other when a dingo appeared around the side of the 4x4 in search of food. It was very cool to be so close to a dingo, but Saz was a little scared of them and we even carried on seeing dingos around the camp all night, they didn't seem at all worried by all the humans around. Shortly after the dingo incident, we decided to pack up the left over food and went to sit on the beach under the stars until about 10:30pm when we all decided to go to bed. It was wierd here as it gets so dark really early so everyone thinks it's like midnight at 8ish.